Reinvestment plan

 Straddling communication and trade lines between Asia and North America, Hawaii could be a global hub for investment management if it weren’t for the financial services brain drain.

Trying to reverse that loss of intellectual capital is the Akamai Foundation, which has created a rigorous instructional program that seeks to allow students interested in investment careers to stay and still compete with graduates of top programs.

The two-pronged Akamai Initiative starts in public schools, said Robert Howe, a Hong Kong-based hedge fund manager and Akamai board member.

Now in its second year, the five-year program cultivates candidates and follows them through their high school and university education. With help from sponsors and grants, there is no cost to participants, making it attractive to disadvantaged and at-risk kids.

“The first years in the pilot program and the first formal year taught for credit at the University of Hawaii saw a high attrition rate,” Mr. Howe said. “We saw that coming due to the pilot program, so as we finished the five-year curriculum and launched that, we got a second federal Department of Education grant to build Akamai Prep, a preparation program in the high schools to attract, filter and pre-train the students before they enter the program.”

The training program is based on a practical, fully integrated, problem-based mentor-protégé learning approach known among Hawaiians as Ma Ka Hana Ka Ike, which translates as “from the doing comes the knowledge.” Students apply the theoretical knowledge learned in the Akamai Finance Academy by working for Akamai Capital, an investment advisory firm affiliated with the program. One of their tasks is managing the nonprofit parent’s endowment.

The initiative has put Bloomberg terminals into 20 of 43 public high schools.

“The six-panel workstation in the schools is a powerful magnet,” Mr. Howe said.

“The math whiz and also the smart ne’er-do-well who may be running numbers games behind the 7-11 in a few years walk by it, ask what it is, and we tell them, “It’s the biggest video game on the planet. Wanna play?’” Mr. Howe said.